Steal My Heart
by Aikido Kiryuu
Summary: He's a member of a gang, sent out to do the dirty work of kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy man. She's a girl lost in regret. When he discovers that she's the girl he used to love, can he still go through with his do-or-die job? DxC
1. The Job

"Well, well, well Duncan. Long time no see, eh?"

Duncan sat down in the chair facing his bosses desk, and propped his feet up onto it. "Let's just say I took a vacation," he muttered, running his hands through his green hair.

"You're lucky we didn't think you bailed on us. Or else we would have had to eliminate you, hm?" Duncan's boss drummed his fingers along his desk.

Duncan felt an odd surge of discomfort. He pulled on the collar of his shirt a little, and looked at the floor. This was his job. The job he regretted taking, but the job he couldn't quit. He couldn't run, and he couldn't hide. He just had to sit back, do what he was told, and pray no one thought he was an informer or a liar. "So what's my job this time?" Duncan asked with a sigh.

"Kidnapping," a large smirk crept across Duncan's boss's face.

Duncan swallowed a small lump in his throat. He'd done a lot of terrible things- stealing, helping people escape from prison, poisoning, etc. But he'd never kidnapped someone. That just felt…over the line of what he was willing to do. At the same time, Duncan was not prepared to die for not doing it, either. "All right," he said, looking up, "Who is it?"

"Ah, let me show you. She's a pretty thing, that's for sure. But we aren't kidnapping her because she's pretty, or even because she did something wrong to us. We're doing it because her dad has money. Money we need desperately."

"So…like a ransom, right?" Duncan inquired, feeling slightly better that with luck, the girl wouldn't have to be killed. "We collect the money and let her go?"

"Are you going soft or something? Does it really matter what happens to her? All we need to worry about now is the money. After we get the ransom money- of- oh, I don't know, half a million or so, then we'll worry about the girl. But first we need to get her. And you need to get on good terms with the gang and I again. So I've put you in charge of this, because I want you to prove that you're still a trustworthy guy. So, Duncan, will you do it?"

Duncan was fed up over the 'going soft' comment. Ever since he'd met that stupid hotheaded chick on that dumb game show, he'd been acting a little different than his usual self. But Duncan was no softie, and he was determined to prove his boss, Aiden DeLatorre, wrong. Duncan sat up straight, and took on a more powerful air. "Of course I'll do it. So who is this silly little rich girl, anyways?"

Aiden pulled a picture out of his pocket, and flung it across the desk at Duncan, who caught it between two fingers just before it hit his nose. He studied the picture, and a feeling of surprise seized him.

"Well if it isn't the Princess herself." His eyes widened. He couldn't stand her now, that was true. But he wasn't sure he could kidnap her either. "Where do I find her?" Duncan asked uncertainly, feeling his heart sink. He and Courtney were already on bad terms that couldn't be repaired, so it wasn't a big deal, was it? And it wasn't like they'd kill her. As soon as her father paid up, she'd be free, she'd hate him more, and he'd never see her again. Easy enough, if not painful.

"Here's the address," Aiden said, sliding a new piece of paper across the desk. "Good luck. And please, try to make this fast, okay? We really need that money."

Duncan looked at the address, folded up the piece of paper, and slipped it in his pocket. As much as he hated it, he was already thinking up plans on how to make this little mission go as quick and painless as possible.

Courtney was laying on her bed, watching taped reruns of the Total Drama episodes. It must have been the thousandth time she'd watched them. Every time she saw herself, she'd flinch. Why had she been such a controlling monster? She was feeling intense regret over losing Duncan. All because she'd turned into a psycho who thought she could have whatever she wanted. Courtney buried her face into a pillow as she listened to herself screaming. She had had a good thing with Duncan, even if he was a delinquent. He had been her Duncan, and she had been his Princess. And then when she'd gotten kicked off for the first time, she'd gotten a hundred times as bad. She longed to apologize. To everyone. To Bridgette, to Duncan, even to Harold.

She'd never been good at making friends, and after watching the tapes, she finally discovered why that was. Because she was a controlling, manipulative snob who acted all high and mighty to shield the fact that she was lonely. She was so afraid to show her weakness, that she had turned into a monster. She was tired of being reminded of it. Something needed to change, even if that meant sending apologies to everyone on the show. It probably would never patch up her fight with Duncan, but maybe it would at least let everyone know that she regretted acting that way. And Courtney promised herself that she would change. Even if it could never change what had happened, she could start fresh.

Courtney hurled one of her debate club trophy at the television, breaking something off of the dumb cheap painted gold trophy. She didn't really care much to look up and check. But the television just kept replaying all of her mistakes. All of her lies. All of her everything. Now, she wasn't even sure if she could be proud of any of her accomplishments. What was the point of being good at things if she just wound up with no one to call afterwards and share them with? What was the point, if she didn't have any friends to stay up late at sleepovers with? Even though she was nearly an adult, and sleepovers were childish and trivial, she regretted never having one. Weren't all girls supposed to have sleepovers? Courtney could only remember always being busy, with violin lessons, or special after school programs or homework. Had she even ever called anyone besides her family before? Yes, there was one time. She had called Melissa Baker to ask what the math homework was when she was out sick. Melissa Baker had answered, and then hung up without even a "goodbye."

Courtney shut off the television with a heavy heart. She went downstairs, and began boiling some water for pasta. Her father wasn't home. He was never home, not anymore. He was always working or out with friends or drinking or with other women. And last year her mother had just walked out, and disappeared off of the face of the Earth. So Courtney was alone now, even in her own home. She couldn't even depend on her own parents anymore. From the outside, it appeared as though she were pretty well off. But if anyone truly knew what was going on, then maybe they'd understand. For now, she could only pretend that her family was perfect.

The house was big and empty, not even a single pet lurking about. Her father claimed to be allergic to animals, but Courtney knew better. It was just because her father didn't want to have to worry about buying food or toys or training lessons. And he was petrified of stepping in animal mess. But Courtney had never wished for an animal more these days She poured the box of pasta into the pot, and set the timer on the stove. She wished her father would come home. When he was home, he wasn't much of a conversation type of guy, but at least he was there, and that somehow reassured his daughter. Of course, nowadays he was bringing home unfamiliar women- a new one every time. When Courtney tried to question him about it, he pushed her away and told her it was in retaliation after her mother walked out.

Courtney had tried calling her mother's cell phone millions of times, only to receive the answering machine on which she left countless messages. Messages her mother probably never even listened to, and just deleted.

Trash. Useless trash. That's all Courtney was to anybody these days.

She shut off of the stove and dumped the half cooked pasta into the trash. She suddenly wasn't very hungry anymore.


	2. Uncomfortable Reunion

Courtney looked at her shopping list, and crossed off granola bars. She plucked the box off of the shelf, and smiled to herself as she checked the nutrition label. Good. Healthy. Low in fat, high in fiber…and low calorie. These would stay, she decided, and she tossed them into the cart. The last thing on her list was coffee, which she quickly obtained for both herself and her father. If her father didn't get his coffee in the morning, he was always a wreck. He would become irate and irrational, and often times he got to the point where he'd knock things over. All because he didn't get his stupid coffee. Courtney suspected it was the alcohol he often drowned himself in, but she'd never dream of saying anything about it to him. She pushed her cart to the never-ending checkout line, wishing that the normal checkout lines could be as short as the 10 items or less ones. Or at least that they moved a little faster. Some pimply fourteen year old boy with frizzy brown hair was scanning the items, and he wasn't very good at it. Several of the people in line around her were exchanging impatient glances or checking their watches. Courtney found herself tapping her foot.

Eventually, she made it out of the grocery store, and packed the groceries into the trunk. As she was pushing her cart back into the carriage corral, a voice interrupted her private thoughts.

"Well if it isn't Princess!" An all-too-familiar voice sneered.

Courtney turned around, her heart suddenly in her stomach. She gritted her teeth and attempted a smile. "Duncan," she said politely, before hurrying past him. She wasn't in the mood for trying to apologize to someone who'd never take her seriously.

"What have you been up to lately?" He asked, following her. Courtney picked up her pace, and he just followed suit.

"Nothing," Courtney mumbled, just wishing he would disappear. "Please leave me alone, okay? I need to get home."

"Aw, come on. It was a fair question," Duncan said, gently turning her around by the shoulder. He let his hand linger there.

"A question I'm not under any obligations to answer, thank you very much." Duncan was making Courtney extremely uncomfortable. Something didn't seem natural in the way he was talking. Oddly, though, she had a strange urge to apologize for her selfish behavior towards him on the show. On an instinct bred from well-manners, Courtney said, "Look, Duncan…I don't know what you're doing here…but…I'm sorry for the way I treated you on the show." She looked down, "It wasn't fair for me to treat you like a slave. There? Happy? Did I give you whatever it was you came for?" She demanded, eyes narrowing slightly. Why wouldn't he just let her go home?

"Well, I don't forgive you. But, go out with me tonight, and I might put some more consideration into it…" Duncan had seen her picture, but it didn't justify her beauty, he thought. She wasn't like other girls. She was independent, strong-willed, and capable of handling herself. And from what he was gathering, she wasn't nearly as controlling and manipulative as she used to be. She had a type of natural beauty about her…that was different from the fake beauty of the dozens of girls he'd dated in the past. Seeing Courtney again, in the flesh, struck a nerve in him, and any leftover anger he felt towards her had completely drained out of him, like air from a popped balloon. He didn't trust her, not in the least, but he wasn't angry with her anymore.

"No way!" She said, scrunching her nose up in the cute little way that Duncan secretly loved. "I'm not just your little backup option, you know. I'm not just going to come running back to you because you're bored!" Courtney's voice had raised significantly. "If you aren't going to forgive me, than that's fine. I'm not going to let you hold it against me to do what you want. I'm not going to get down on my hands and knees and beg. I have dignity!" She turned around and started marching back to her car again, head held high.

"Aw, come on Princess! I miss you!" Duncan cried. It wasn't a lie, not really. Seeing her again had just reminded him of exactly how much he missed her. Even if she was a snobby, controlling little witch, that was what he loved about her. He just didn't love it when she pushed him around. That, he could live without. "I came halfway across the country just to find you again!"

"Yeah right!" Courtney rolled her eyes, even though he couldn't see it. "You're probably just on the run from the cops or something. Now go back to your nose-ringed little girlfriend and leave me alone." Courtney unlocked her car, and slid in the front seat, locking it again behind her. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Was it because she was really happy to see Duncan? Or was it because she felt that something was off about him? She decided on the latter.

Duncan came running up to her car, knocking on her window. "Can I at least get your digits? Please?"

Courtney groaned, irritated by the pest that wouldn't leave her alone. "No! Just leave me alone!" She cried, beginning to get scared. Why couldn't he just drop it, and respect her need for space? "I said I was sorry. That's all I am. I-I-" Courtney struggled to find words that would make him go away for good. "I have a boyfriend already!"

Duncan wasn't sure whether or not to believe it. Who stole his Princess? Why did she look so afraid of him? Did she know that something was off? Duncan quietly cursed at his own stupidity. Courtney had senses like no other being he'd ever known. There was no way she could miss his nervousness. There was no way she could miss how uncomfortable he was. She had to know that something was wrong.

Now Duncan had been through a lot of hard life lessons, that had always prepared him to expect the unexpected, and always be aware that unlikely is not the same thing as impossible. He had been through countless crimes, and even wound up in a gang, where undoubtedly, he'd learned to be extremely careful with what he said. All of his criminal acts, and life lessons, and common sense combined couldn't have prepared him for this. Boyfriend? What? That was the most insane thing that he'd ever heard. He studied her closely, as she started her car, trying to get away from him as fast as possible. She backed out of the parking spot, and drove away as fast as the speed limits would allow. Duncan knew it was better if she ran. If she ran, nothing bad would happen to her. But like her, Duncan had his fair share of selfishness inside of him. And if she ran, he wouldn't live. He could probably drag out his job for a solid month or so, before his gang got suspicious. Jobs like this often took three months to do safely. But if he didn't gain her trust soon, catching her at the right time within a month would be unlikely.

Which reminded him yet again of a life lesson.

Unlikely is not the same as impossible.


	3. Paranoia

When Courtney was back home, she locked the door behind her. She wasn't taking any chances. She dumped the groceries on the kitchen table, then kicked herself for not being more careful with the eggs. She was almost sure that she'd heard one crack. But right now, she was scared, for irrational reasons. It wasn't like Duncan had followed her home or anything, right? Lying to him had probably been a mistake, though. Stupid, Courtney thought, that she never thought about her actions before she actually did them. She could only mope about and regret them later. What good was it, though? What was done was done.

Even as she was putting away all of the groceries, she couldn't help but keep looking over her shoulder, the unease growing by the minute, as the silent house seemed to grow quieter and emptier…

She slammed the refrigerator door. "This is stupid!" She cried, to no one in particular. She wrinkled her nose. "I shouldn't be letting him get to me. It's exactly what he wants." She tucked away the reusable bags in the cabinet by the door. Still, no matter how much she tried, the feeling of being watched wasn't leaving her. "I really need to relax…I know! Maybe I'll take a bath. That's exactly what I need!" She smiled, trying to reassure herself. It wasn't working. Still, she couldn't get into the bathroom fast enough.

Courtney slammed the bathroom door behind her, and made a repeat of the front door by locking it. She'd forgotten her bathrobe, she realized. Oh well. She closed the elegant white curtains of the huge window of the master bathroom. There wasn't a single crack of light showing from outside when she was through with them. When the water was running, she stripped her clothes off, and grabbed one of her books she kept in a basket in the corner of the bathroom. She slid into the tub, careful not to get the book wet. Placing it on the side of the tub, she turned off the faucet, and the bathroom became completely silent aside from a few final drips.

When she began reading, though, she found herself unable to concentrate. There was still that unrelenting nagging feeling that something was off. This needed to stop, she decided, closing her eyes. "Calm down, and focus on Portia's words…" She said, forcing her way through _The Merchant of Venice. _Courtney had already read it a hundred times, but she always loved the part where Portia took the identity of the doctor and helped save Antonio from Shylock's cruel bond. However, today Shakespeare's words were of no comfort to her. She was distracted- and if you've ever tried to read Shakespeare without your full attention, you'll know how hard it is. Frustrated with herself, she threw the book against the far wall, where it fell to the floor with a soft thud. "Why can't I get over this?" She gritted her teeth, and slid further down into the water.

Thud. Thud. Thud. At first, Courtney thought that she was hearing things. But as the persistent noise continued, she realized that she had had every right to be cautious. Because the noise was footsteps. And they were in the house. Courtney froze. Someone was in the house. With amazing speed, she shot out of the tub, careful not to make a loud noise that might tip the intruder off. Frightened, she dried herself off and pulled on all of her clothes. Her hair was wet, and she wanted badly to blow-dry it- but that was obviously out of the question. What should she do? She wasn't going to lie- she was panicking. Her cell phone was in her purse on the kitchen table…there was no way she could get help. The only question was whether or not she should stay where she was, or take the risk of getting to a phone. Should she even be afraid, if it was just Duncan trying to scare her? Or would he actually attempt something?

"I'm not afraid of you," she said suddenly, narrowing her eyes and throwing the bathroom door open. The footsteps stopped for a moment, but then continued on. Thud. Thud. Thud. She grabbed her older brother's baseball bat from the closet. Hey, he hadn't used it since he graduated high school three years ago and gone away to live in Paris. She held it at the ready, and slowly crept towards where the footsteps were coming from. The kitchen. Her heart pounded as she stood outside the kitchen door. The person was rummaging around, as if looking for something.

Suddenly, she jumped into the kitchen like a crazy person, "Get out of my house you creep!" She cried, gripping the bat tightly with both hands.

"Woah!" The person turned around in astonished fright, and Courtney felt both relief and embarrassment. She let her bat fall to the floor.

"D-dad…I didn't know you were home so early," she said, crossing her arms. She really wasn't sorry for surprising him like that, but it was embarrassing to think that she had mistaken her own father for a burglar.

"I had a meeting," he said simply. "Now I'd like to eat lunch, so I would appreciate it if you made me something to eat."

What, no please? Courtney thought, but she would never say it out loud. "Sure. What do you want?" She asked weakly, looking at the floor. She shivered as the water from her wet hair dripped down her back.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Well, have you gotten her yet, Duncan?" Aiden asked, flipping over his desktop hourglass.

Duncan ran a hand over his hair and then shoved it in his pocket. "Well, I found her, anyways. I'm not just going to suddenly grab her out of the blue, you know. I need her to come quietly, so it's less suspicious that way. Give me a chance, will you?"

"Hm. Of course," Aiden said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I'll give you this. Stan was right- you aren't as dumb as you look."

"Don't talk about Stan," Duncan said icily, kicking Aiden's desk. "My brother died protecting this gang, yet you still disrespect him. Why is that?"

"Your brother was weak. It was his fault we almost got caught in the first place, you know. Now, where do you stand? Are you going to have me kill you right here, or are you going to get your job done right?" Aiden stood up, pointing his gun at Duncan. His eyes were narrowed into slits.

"Don't you worry, Aiden, I'll get the job done. No need to threaten me," Duncan held his hands up in surrender. "I'll just need a week or two."

"See to it that you get it done soon," Aiden said, dropping the gun into his drawer. "Now get out of my sight you useless piece of crap."


	4. Calm Before the Storm

Courtney was awake in her bed the next morning, listening to her father and his newest conquest making lovey-dovey talk in the next room over. Courtney didn't recognize the woman's voice, so she assumed that it was just another girl that her father was messing around with to get some type of benefit from. Or maybe he just got bored and brought the nearest desperate girl he could find home. She figured it was more than likely the latter. Every night, it seemed to be a new woman. Disgusting. More than ever, Courtney missed her mother. She could call, she thought, and beg her mother to come back for her. Beg her mother to take her away, just until she was old enough to live on her own…that was only months away now. Only a few short months, and she could finally move out. Away from her father, away from Duncan, who'd recently showed his face in her life again, and away from everything that reminded her of this life. Courtney looked longingly at her cell phone. Should she try to call her mother again? Would it even be worth it when she knew that no one would pick up? In the end, Courtney pulled herself up out of bed, and quickly ran across her cold hardwood floor to retrieve her cell phone, which was waiting on her dresser. She used her speed dial, and there was a sudden click, followed by a voice. Not her mother's voice, though, the voice of a machine.

"We're sorry, but this number is no longer in service."

A tear escaped down Courtney's cheek, and dripped off of her chin and dropped onto her night shirt. Another one followed, and eventually they were just pouring down. No- Courtney wasn't making a noise, but the tears were falling, drop by silent drop. "Mom…where are you?" She asked to no one, looking to her ceiling. She'd never believed in God- it was irrational to her- but…she hoped more than ever that if her mother wasn't alive anymore, that she went to a better place. "Why did you leave me, Mom?" She whispered, still holding the phone to her ear.

Click. "We're sorry, but this number is no longer in service," the mechanic voice repeated. Courtney didn't hang up the phone though. Instead, she sat down on her bed, phone to her ear, letting the message play itself over and over again. Maybe she didn't want to admit that it was true- her mother couldn't possibly care about her anymore. If her mother had cared, she would have taken Courtney with her. If her mother had cared, she'd at least be answering her phone. If her mother had cared, Courtney wouldn't be alone. Eventually, after composing herself, she closed the phone, right in the middle of the message. "You had no right to leave me alone with this man…"

This man wouldn't pay for her to go to college. She was "smart enough." This man didn't want her to buy a prom dress because "you'd wear it once and that would be it. Waste of money." This man was stingy, unloving, and in Courtney's opinion- evil. She'd tried to get a job herself, to get her own money, by tutoring younger children. It was an annoying job, because she wasn't the biggest fan of small kids, but there weren't many parents who would pay a lot of money for her services. At the most, she'd gotten ten dollars for an hour with a girl down the street. However after that, the girl's parents had chosen to get her a tutoring session with a certified substitute teacher who tutored on Tuesday nights. The same certified teacher had tutored Courtney when she was younger. She'd never had trouble with school, but she'd been eager to get ahead and make sure she remembered everything over the summer. In short, Courtney had only gathered about forty dollars before she'd given up. At the rate she was going, she knew that she didn't have a chance of raising the money she needed for a dress. As for another job…the supermarket had far too many familiar faces of people who hated her (on several occasions she'd arrived home only to find the ice cream container crushing the bread, the plastic on the meat "accidentally" slit open, or the eggs cracked. But what was she supposed to do? She had no proof that the employees had done it, so she didn't complain). The fast food joint disgusted her to no end, and she was certain she wouldn't make it through a day without throwing up, so that was out, too. The problem was that there was no place that she could stand, or that would take her. Of course, no one had asked her to prom anyways, but she'd wanted to go alone so she could at least tell her children that she'd gone to what was supposedly the best night of her life.

She looked up at her calendar. Prom was even closer than she'd thought. It didn't matter, not anymore. To take her mind off of it, she began doing her homework. The numbers and words and calculations soothed her, and even though it wasn't fun, she felt better when she was distracted with them. It was Sunday, around 9 A.M., and she was still half asleep, but none of that mattered to her or effected her. However homework eventually runs out. Normally, she'd be happy to have it off of her shoulders. But when the pressure of it was gone, it felt as if something far, far heavier had taken its place. When her stack of homework was exhausted, she turned on her radio, drowning out the mumbling from her father and his woman. Even though she wanted to think of her future, and school, and several other things that she should have been thinking about…there was one person on her mind. One very specific person who's once green hair ha grown out to become a short mess of straight black hair…

"I shouldn't be thinking of him!" She said to herself, shaking her head. "That's what he wants, really, is to get under my skin!" Besides. Seeing him was probably just an unfortunate game of impossible odds. There had been a one and a million, no, one in a trillion chance that she would have seen him at that exact place at that exact time. It was just unfortunate. There was nothing odd about it. Unless, of course, he had actually been looking for her. What if…what if he was stalking her? What if he had been stalking her, ever since the show ended? No, no, no. These thoughts were irrational, and they were only created by fear. She wasn't going to see him again. He hadn't followed her home or anything, either. If he had he would have made his move when he had the chance.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

There she was, the CIT. Standing up in her bedroom, next to the window, doing what appeared to be talking to herself. Even with her hair in a mess, and dark circles under her eyes, she looked like his princess. His old princess, the one who he missed. The new one needed to get a reality check, though. The snobby, controlling, obsessive one needed to be destroyed. Somewhere, he knew, was his old princess- the one who just acted like she thought she was better than everyone else so she could have someone to rely on. The minute he had first seen her, he knew that she was hiding some type of dark secret. It sounded cliché, but if Duncan was good with anything, it was reading people. He'd figured out in his head that she had just been lonely, and had never had anyone do anything for her, so she'd become independent and strong. He'd liked that about her. Her independence, the way she pretended to hate him, the way that she looked after they first stole food that night…She had been a changed person after that. But then, when that stupid nerd Harold had to ruin it all…she'd become someone who Duncan couldn't stand. Thinking about it now, though, maybe it was just her defense against everyone else…

Duncan slept through a lot of his classes, and for that matter, he actually rarely went to class anymore. Psychology class, however, had been his strong point. Plus, it had been very useful to him in his gang. He had easily figured out how to manipulate his way to the top of the food chain through scaring those beneath and above him. A strategy that only the truly powerful of the gang world could use. The only one he had yet to figure out was Aiden. Aiden had recently lost faith in Duncan- and he had every reason to.

Because Duncan was tired of the world he had built for himself. He was fourteen, when he first managed to join by beating up one of the members who had tried to steal his money while he was walking to school. At that time, the gang had been a bunch of childish kids, who hadn't really done anything besides bullying and stealing some cigarettes. To Duncan, that was fun. But as Aiden got older, and as the gang grew at an alarmingly fast pace…the bullying had turned deadly. Duncan, normally the tough guy, was feeling uncomfortable about this sudden spring of killings. Because once they'd found out they could do it- actually take a life- nothing stopped them from taking more. Duncan wasn't a killer, even if he was a criminal.

On that note, Duncan wasn't a kidnapper, either.

He looked back up to Courtney, who was now looking out of her window, but not looking at him. He was hidden away, in the bushes. Looking up at her, he realized that he missed her more than ever. She wouldn't be hurt. He just needed to take her back to the hideout, and she would be okay once her dad paid the ransom. It wasn't like she was going to die, or anything, right? Courtney would be okay. After all, the gang had nothing to gain by killing her. As long as they got the money, then she'd be all right.

Duncan crept around the house, and looked into the kitchen. The kitchen had a glass wall, and he could see right into it. He saw what he assumed was Courtney's father, and a woman, probably her mother. But…she looked too young to be Courtney's mother. Like, way too young. The woman wrapped her arms around the man, kissing him and squeezing him and making a scene that was enough to make Duncan turn away. But if everyone else in the house was in the kitchen, Duncan knew that he could sneak in the front door safely. He smirked to himself.

"Hope you're ready for me, Princess. Because I'm coming, whether you like it or not."


	5. True Love is Driving One Another Crazy

Courtney just couldn't bring herself to concentrate. She was trying, and failing, to practice her violin. Her mind was just on too many other things though, so she set it down. Because of her lack of focus, she had been producing a horrible squealing noise as the bow kept sliding up or down the strings. She decided to stop, to prevent herself from throwing the instrument down on the hardwood floor, and shatter it to little, wooden splinters. "Stupid Duncan...stupid Dad...stupid what's-her-face thinking she can just walk in for a night and mess with my dad..." she mumbled to herself. "Stupid mom...leaving me alone with this man." She was mad at everyone and everything, and her frustration had been building up, brick by brick, in a neat little stack, to the point where it was going to tip from even the slightest disturbance.

"Don't stop, I kind of liked that song. Bach, right? I liked the way you improvised. The squeaks were a nice touch," Duncan said from the doorway. Courtney's head snapped up.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" She cried, standing up and tipping over her music stand." She blushed, not meaning to have knocked it over. The sheet music flew sailed across the room. "You stalker, creepist, pig!"

"Ah, now you're making up words? Nice imagination, I give you major points," He smirked. She threw her rosin at his head. He ducked, and chuckled. "Come on, Princess, I don't bite or anything. I just wanted to talk to you again."

"I thought you couldn't stand me!" she said defensively, crossing her arms.

"Calm down, calm down..." Duncan said, holding his hands up, "Haven't we grown up since then?"

"If you were 'grown up' in any way you would have knocked on the front door like a normal person instead of breaking in and scaring the crap out of me!" She hissed, picking up her fallen music stand and then gathering up all of the sheet music.

"You wouldn't have answered. You would have just slammed the door in my face."

Courtney opened her mouth to say something, but then she realized he was completely right. "Just. Leave." She said, pointing to the door. "Please. I don't want to see you again."

"Aw, don't be like that. Just give me another chance, will you? Please? Just one date, and then if you still never want to see me again, you won't. I swear," Duncan said as honestly as he could.

Courtney paused, about to grab another piece of music. She left it, and stood up. "Just one little date, and then you'll leave me alone?" She asked, carefully.

Duncan nodded. "Or...I could just bother you until you finally agree. But I think it would be easier for the both of us if you just agreed now."

Courtney put the music she'd collected down on her chair, thinking. One date couldn't hurt, right? Then she'd never have to see him again. She decided it was a fair deal, but wasn't going to let it go without laying down her terms. "All right, Duncan," she began, holding up her head. "I'll go on a date with you. BUT, I'm going to drive myself to where we choose to go, we're going to go somewhere where there's a lot of other people, and we aren't going to do anything illegal. Got it?"

Duncan sighed. She was good. Still his old Courtney. "Okay, okay, that's fine." Besides...he had a right to have a little fun before he actually kidnapped her, right? And this would be the perfect opportunity to build her trust. "So, where do you want too go?" He asked, deciding she'd be more likely to open up if he let her choose the place.

"The Italian restaurant that's just down the street from here. I'm guessing that you saw it as you were walking over here."

"Okay, that's fine," he shrugged pretending not to care. He flashed Courtney one of his smiles that she didn't trust. "Shall we meet around...7?" He looked at the clock. It was around noon time now, so that gave him some time to work out a plan.

Courtney nodded. "Happy now? Get out of my house!" She hissed, pointing to the doorway. "And don't let my father or his latest catch see you, or you're in some deep trouble."

"Relax, relax...I understand," he said, giving a soldier salute and turning around. "Can't wait to see you tonight, Princess."

"Stop calling me that!" Courtney said, exasperated.

"Nope," Duncan replied simply, walking out.

When he was gone, Courtney picked up the music off of the chair, and collapsed in it. She stamped her feet. "What did I just do?" She cried to herself. She dropped the sheet music to the floor, making a mess of it yet again.

"It wasn't Bach!" She suddenly said to an empty room.


	6. Duncan Blows it

"Hey, babe," Duncan said, with a smirk as Courtney walked over to his table. "Looking good."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Nothing more unusual then I usually wear. I wish I could say the same."

"Ouch, you don't have to be so harsh, you know," Duncan said, taking a sip of his coke. "Hey, you still like cream soda, right? Because that's what I ordered you."

Courtney's eyes widened. "How did you remember that?" She said. Duncan knew he'd struck a chord somewhere.

"I still care about you," he replied. Courtney sat down across from him. She wasn't falling for his tricks, not yet. She had to be sure that he was still serious before she trusted him even a little bit.

"Yeah, uh-huh, sure," she said, pretending to be interested in the menu that she knew by heart by her countless lunches here.

"That's cool," he shrugged, "I understand that you don't trust me."

"That's because I don't," Courtney replied flatly. "Not yet, anyways."

When the waiter came over, he stared at Courtney. Courtney knew him as David, the freaky pimply boy who was into Star Wars and jedis and whatever the heck those silly movies were about. David had always had a crush on her, ever since the first day she'd walked in here. She hadn't been mean to him, but she hadn't been super nice. She hoped the best for him, just with some girl that wasn't her. He looked sad that Courtney was with someone else, and shocked because it was well...Duncan. But hey, he'd get over it. "Can I help you?" He asked nervously, looking down at his shoes.

"I'll have a large supreme pizza," Duncan said. He hadn't said please.

"And I'll have the spaghetti and meatballs, _please_," Courtney made sure to emphasize the please. Duncan wasn't paying attention, though. He hadn't caught her drift. David nodded and smiled weakly.

"No problem. I'll get those in right away," he said, scurrying away.

"You could have been nicer, you know," Courtney said, glaring at Duncan.

"Yeah right!" Duncan snorted, "You saw the way he was looking at you!"

"So?" Courtney asked, crossing her arms. "This is only one date, Duncan, we aren't an item."

"Oh come on, Princess, you can't tell me you're interested in him! He's a loser! You could do so much better than him."

"I never said I was interested in him," Courtney said, taking a sip of her cream soda. "I'm just saying that you have no right to be jealous."

"What makes you think I'm jealous?" Duncan asked. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Then don't make a scene when another boy decides he likes me."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They were both silent, until the food came.

"Courtney," Duncan said, realizing that he better make up fast, "I'm sorry. I just...I still like you."

Courtney wasn't stupid, and she understood at his apology that at least he was trying to be nice to her. "Okay," she agreed, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten as upset as I did. And the truth is...I kind of missed you too." Courtney was being honest. She just hadn't wanted to admit it to herself. She did still care about Duncan, and she missed the first season of the show, when everything had been okay...at least for an episode. Then she'd gone psycho-woman and ruined everything. "And I'm sorry for-" she was about to apologize for her behavior on the show, when Duncan's phone rang. "It's okay, you can answer it," she said, taking a bite of her spaghetti.

"Hello?" Duncan asked, slightly annoyed. Why did the other members always have to call at the worst times. It was Brittney, Aiden's girlfriend, and also one of the lower ranked members. "Brittney? Not now, I'm busy," Duncan hissed into the phone, before hanging up. She called back though.

Courtney stood up, hands still on the table. "Brittney?" She cried, abandoning any apology that she'd been about to give, "Who's Brittney?"

Duncan hung up the phone again, and tried to find the words to explain. He didn't have any explanations that Courtney would believe, though.

"You asked me out when you were dating another girl?" Courtney cried, trying to hide her hurt with anger. She picked up her plate of spaghetti, and dumped it on him. "That's it!" She cried, tears glittering in her eyes, "I am so, so done with all of your crap!" Courtney stomped out of the restaurant and got into her car, locking the doors. Then she put her head down on the steering wheel and began to cry.

"I should have known better...so stupid! Why did I even think for one second that he might actually...he might actually...he's just a player. That's all he even wanted...was to screw with me...and I, I just let him take advantage of me..." She wasn't sure if she was crying in frustration or in sadness.

Courtney jammed the keys into the ignition, and started the car. She gripped the wheel tightly, wanting to break it in half.

Duncan ran out of the restaurant, spaghetti in his hair and sauce staining the front of his shirt. "Courtney, wait!" Duncan cried, "She isn't my-"

"Yeah right, save it!" Courtney screamed out of the window, before turning her radio all the way up and rolling up her window.

"How could I have been so stupid?"


	7. Trouble at Home

"Courtney, please don't hang up- I'm telling you, nothings going on between me and that woman, she's just a friend! Don't you trust me?" Duncan begged into the phone.

"Hm...let me think...nope," Courtney snapped, then hung up the phone.

"She hung up on me..." Duncan said, eyes as wide as dinner plates. In reality, he wasn't all that shocked. He should have expected as much. He'd had at least a little bit of her trust...and then of course, she'd had to call. But...Courtney did have a right not to trust him, even if he didn't like it. He sighed, and looked across the room. He was in Aiden's little makeshift office, in their meeting place.

"Trouble in paradise?" Aiden said, smirking.

"It was never paradise, believe me," Duncan said, crossing his arms. "But it doesn't matter. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not going to kidnap her, so please, just get someone else to do it."

"Do you have a death wish, Duncan?" Aiden said, bringing his fists down on his desk and standing up. "Because believe me, just one little phone call, and I can make it happen."

Duncan swallowed a lump in his throat. He was a tough guy- there was no denying that. However, he wasn't ready to die. Especially not with Courtney upset with him. And...the truth was, he was a little scared of death. But...was there really anything wrong with that? Even as a gangster, Duncan was afraid to die. It was shameful, and it showed he was a coward, but at the same time, he didn't care. He wanted out. There was no way of getting out though, that was the problem. He was stuck. "No," he said after a while, a grimace plastered on his face. "I don't want to die."

"Then, tell me Duncan, are you going to kidnap this girl, or not."

"I'll do it," Duncan said, pain in his voice. "But she doesn't get hurt...right?"

"Not so long as the ransom is paid," Aiden said, flatly, "But surely that won't be an issue. So, I'm going to have to say no, she won't get hurt. Things can be changed, of course."

Duncan exhaled. But...what if Courtney's father...didn't pay up? It seemed like a tiny possibility, but it still existed.

"And you better do it soon, Duncan. I'm running out of patience with you, understand?" Aiden barked.

Duncan nodded, "Yeah. Whatever." He left Aiden's little office, and began walking back towards his home. If his parents would choose to let him in today, that is. He hesitantly knocked on the door, a little nervous. There was a good possibility that he'd be sleeping outside tonight. His sister, fourteen, would get to stay inside though, no matter what. Because she was adored. Even Duncan's strict father loved his daughter. Because his daughter wasn't a delinquent.

His father swung the door open, his eternal frown haunting his face. "Well. Look who's home," he said simply. "Well, you certainly aren't going to sleep here tonight."

"But Dad-" Duncan protested, but it was hopeless. His father had already made up his mind.

"Please, leave. You aren't my son," his father almost looked hurt. "You smell like alcohol and cigarettes. I don't want you influencing Jacquelyn."

Jackie, Duncan's perfect little sister, was watching from inside the house, looking horrified with her father.

"Honey, let Duncan sleep here tonight- it's going to rain," Duncan's mother said. In many ways, Duncan loved and hated his mother at the same time. She loved Duncan no matter what, but was too afraid to speak up to her husband. He was surprised that she was even trying.

"Dad," Jackie said, pleading in her voice. Duncan was a little bit jealous of his sister, but he loved her, too. She was one of the main things that he was trying to protect. If his gang hated him and killed him, his family would be killed too. He knew from seeing it happen to others.

"No! That's final. I don't want to be caught up in whatever trouble he's in now. You know he only comes home when he's in trouble. When was the last time you've even seen him, anyways?"

Suddenly, Jackie screamed, "Dad what's your problem? Why the heck are you so mean?" Then Jackie ran to her room. Then his Dad- his own father- slammed the door in his face.

Duncan began walking away. He'd expected all of that to happen.

"Duncan!" Jackie called quietly, sticking her head out of the window of her room. Duncan turned to face his sister, who beckoned to him with her hand. "Come on!" Curious, he walked over to her window. Her room was on the first floor, so she was only a little bit above his head. She stepped away from her window. "Come on in."

Duncan remembered everyone he'd ever known complaining about their siblings. Except, right now, he thought that Jackie was the greatest sibling he could ever have. "You know if they find me...Dad will be pissed, right?" Duncan whispered, shutting the window behind him.

Jackie nodded. "I don't care. Its worth the risk."

"Maybe you really are my sister," Duncan said with a grin. "I was beginning to wonder."

"I learned from the best, after all."


	8. Guilty Success

"Duncan, where are you going?" Jackie asked, walking in with a small plate of leftovers that she'd kept hidden to bring to him. Roast beef and mashed potatoes. Not his favorite, but he hadn't eaten for nearly the entire day, and it looked good anyways. Duncan had been climbing out Jackie's window- but of course, she'd walked in. He'd hoped to be able to leave without her noticing. Of course, why would something good like that every happen? Now she'd ask questions. Questions that Duncan would have to answer with lies. But the food...oh, the food just looked so good to his rumbling stomach. He climbed back in the window, and sat down on his sister's bed. She handed him the plate, and he gobbled it down in a few bites. He set the empty plate down on the bed next to him, and wiped his mouth. He stood up again.

"Duncan, where are you going?" Jackie asked again, picking up the plate and moving it to her bedside table. "I thought that maybe you could actually stay for a while this time." She looked at the floor, in the way that always made Duncan feel guilty. It was weird, that she was one of the only people who could ever make Duncan regret anything.

Duncan gave his little sister half of a smile, and ruffled her hair. "I've got a date, kiddo," he said, trying not to look at the expression on her face.

"Another date?" She asked, straightening out her hair. "It's never with the same girl, though, is it?"

"What are you talking about, Jacks?"

"I mean, like whenever you tell me the name of the girl you're going out with, its never the same. Why can't you just stick to one, and start a family, and try and fix things with Dad?"

"I'm sorry, Jacks. I can't do that," Duncan said quietly, ruffling his sister's hair all over again. She sighed, irritated, and smoothed it down in vain. Duncan jumped out of the window. "Sorry, Jacks, but I can't risk Dad finding me, either. You'll get in even more trouble than I will." He ran off into the night, leaving his sister to wonder.

"Duncan...be careful," Jackie whispered to an empty room. He might not know it, but his sister knew everything. She knew about the gang he was in, even. She'd gone through his cell phone a year ago, and she'd found text messages that told her about a story she'd never wanted to know about. With a heavy heart, she began to close the window, because it was a bit chilly. Instead of closing it, though, she left it open. "Just in case you come back," she again whispered to no one. But another thing Jackie knew was that Duncan didn't come back. Not ever. But, her window would always be open.

When Duncan arrived at Courtney's house, all of the lights were off, except for one, on the top floor. Sneaking into the house was easy, the back door wasn't even locked. Duncan left the ransom note he'd made out of his sister's magazines while she'd been eating dinner on the kitchen table, and then slipped upstairs, quiet as a mouse. He wasn't so sure if he could go through with this. Was giving up his love really worth saving his life? No. Of course it wasn't. He knew that, too, but it didn't mean he wasn't afraid to die. To reassure himself, he told himself that she didn't like him anymore anyways, and he'd already screwed things up with her. So what did it matter whether or not she hated him just that much more?

But he didn't even believe his own thoughts. He was standing outside of Courtney's room now, duct tape in hand. With slow, careful movements, he opened her door, and peeked inside. She was there, sleeping like a baby. He slowly approached her, and the closer he got, the more he realized how pained she looked, even in her sleep. Just her expression made him want to quit this stupid job and skip town this very minute. But he knew that if he skipped town, his family was in jeopardy, and then they'd come after him. And no matter what, they'd find him. There was no escaping his gang. He remembered what had happened to the last guy who'd run away.

Trying not to think about it too much, Duncan turned her over so she was on her stomach, and then began to duct tape her wrists together. She woke up, if you didn't see that one coming already. Duncan could feel her panicking to turn herself over, but fighting his own emotions, he held her down. She wasn't going to die. She'd be okay in the morning when her dad paid the ransom. It would only be for a few hours. Courtney began to scream into the bed, and even muffled by bedsheets, it was loud. He shoved his hand into the small duffel bag he'd brought with him, and pulled out a Tupperware container, which held a piece of cloth. He popped the plastic lid off, and pulled the cloth out, and shoved it under Courtney's face so it was covering her nose in mouth. When she stopped struggling, he returned the cloth to the Tupperware container. It had been tainted with a poison that would knock anyone out when directly inhaled.

Then he made the hardest phone call of his life, and called Aiden.

"What do you want?" Aiden asked, clearly pissed off.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I disturb your little nap?" Duncan wasn't sorry. He wasn't afraid of Aiden, either, he was just angry with him.

"What do you need?" Aiden asked, irritated with Duncan's attitude. But he was too tired to argue with him, either.

"A ride."

Aiden made some shuffling noises as he got out of bed. Then Duncan heard the distinct jingle of keys, which made him grimace. "Okay, kid. Where are you?"

"The girl's house," Duncan responded, emotionless. "I did like you asked."

"All right," Aiden said, sounding slightly more pleased. "And to think, I was beginning to think you couldn't do it."

Duncan gave a nervous pretend laugh. "Yeah, right."

"I'll be there in five minutes. Be waiting outside, or I'm leaving."


	9. Aiden

The van was dark. Pitch black. The only way Courtney even knew that she was in a van was because she was being gently bumped upwards and downwards, and she could hear the distinct sound of an engine struggling with old age. There were items that would occasionally bump into her, and rattle around, but she couldn't even begin to guess what they were. The more she thought about it, the more she believed that she didn't want to know. When she'd first woken up, she'd thought it had all been a dream. Now, she only wished it was. She wished that she didn't have to hate Duncan. The word "hate" was strong, but in reality, it didn't even begin to touch the borders of how she felt. Inside, there was a much deeper feeling, that made her want to cry out in frustration, scream in anger, and sob in agony. It was hatred, but it was hatred for herself as well as for her kidnapper- the one she once thought that she loved. Because, when it came right down to it, she guessed that she just might deserve whatever was happening to her now.

_Maybe if I hadn't been so controlling..._

Courtney had promised herself that she would change. Except, when she looked back on how she'd acted recently, she knew that she hadn't been able to change. That demon- her faults, was still inside of her, a beast with glowing red eyes that would not budge from its cave. She could try to force it out of her, so she could kill it, and be released from her own actions. Only now was she realizing that even if it was dark, maybe she'd have to go in after it.

The real question was what her kidnappers wanted of her. Sex? Money? Did they just want to kill her for fun? Maybe she deserved to die, but she didn't want to. It was alright to be afraid of death, she told herself. Death was a rational fear- unlike green jello. She heard the horrible sound of the engine being killed, and the truck screeching to a stop. This was it. Whatever was going to happen to her was going to happen to her soon. She gave one last desperate attempt to break free of her bindings, but it was hopeless. She was trapped. Courtney had grown up believing that she was infallible, but now she knew too well that that wasn't the case.

The doors of the back of the van were thrown open to reveal a man, thin and spider-like, although she couldn't make out his features, as he only appeared as a dark silhouette against the moonlight. It wasn't Duncan- he was too tall and too skinny. Courtney moved herself until she was as far into the van as she could possibly go, but it was obvious that escape was impossible. The man climbed into the van, and picked her up over his shoulder like she was a bag of feathers. She could only manage to whimper through the piece of cloth that had been tied around her mouth. He shook her a little bit. "Shut up," he ordered, and she complied. If just just followed his orders, she thought that maybe she could keep her life.

He put her down in a room with cement walls and no windows. The walls were dirty and covered in various stains. Paint, dirt, blood...blood. The door was made of metal, it appeared, and the room was empty except for a thin piece of folded cloth in the corner, that was gathering dust and cobwebs. Now, in the dim light given off from the lighting fixture that was like a graveyard for bugs, Courtney could see this person in a better light.

He had greasy red hair that didn't seem to fit with his businesslike appearance. He had a big chin, and dark, sharp narrow eyes that seemed to tell thousands of horror stories that they'd witnessed. He was wearing a long-sleeved button-down dark purple shirt, with the top half of the buttons missing or undone. And then he was wearing bright white pants, not stained or wrinkled or ruined in the least. The other thing she noticed about him was his necklace, made of thick chain. This guy looked invincible, as if he were constructed entirely out of stone and crafted into the perfect impenetrable fortress. And it didn't give Courtney much confidence about surviving this ordeal, either.

"You'll be staying here, for a while," he said, casually walking over to her and ripping away the gag that had kept her quiet. "Be a good girl, and once your daddy pays the ransom, you'll be able to return to your normal life, completely unharmed. But don't think that I'll hesitate to kill you if you try and misbehave."

Courtney glared at him, but she couldn't find any courage to talk back, which was unusual for her. The fact that Duncan had gotten her into this mess had left her hurt and drained. "Who are you?" She asked, still struggling against the material that bound her hands and feet.

"You're worst nightmare, sweetheart. But, you can call me Aiden, if you'd like," he lifted her chin up so he was centimeters away from her face. He could feel her breath against his skin, and the way it shook like leaves in a storm. She was afraid of him, just as everyone was. She could glare at him until she went blind, but it wouldn't change the fact that she was frightened out of her wits. Aiden gave a smirk, and released her face from his grip. For now, he'd let the girl be. She was probably hurting after having her precious Duncan betray her. Maybe he'd play with her a little bit later, once she'd had her rest. Besides, he was tired. After all, that idiot Duncan had woken up while he'd been sleeping.


	10. Promises in the Heat of Distrust

So, this will ****Probably** **be the last time I update until next Sunday at the earliest. I'm leaving tomorrow for a week. But, anyways, I thought I'd leave you guys with some DxC that I think you've probably been craving.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Have you heard from her father yet?" Duncan asked nervously. He was facing Aiden again, in his little office, and was only growing more worried as the day went on.

"Not a word," Aiden said flatly, as if he didn't really care what happened either way. "Now, bring her some food, will you? It won't help our case if she starves. Half of your lunch, or something." Aiden waved his hand carelessly in the air, as if dismissing Duncan from his presence.

It made Duncan a little upset that Aiden had absolutely no shame, but he wasn't about to start a fight. Even if Aiden was tall and bony without a spot of muscle, Duncan knew all it would take was a shout for a swarm of other, more dangerous members to take care of Aiden was untouchable.

Duncan slipped out of the office, and stared at the wooden door that led down to the basement. Through that door, down the stairs, down the hall, to the right, and through the metal door, Courtney was alone, in the complete dark. He imagined that her bitterness towards him was only growing, minute by minute. Duncan walked towards the kitchen of the building, to retrieve his lunch. If nothing else, the base was pretty luxurious, although inconspicuously so. They had to be careful with how much they bought with stolen money, after all. And this was still an abandoned warehouse (typical, right?), so if anyone ever came to investigate, they couldn't find any fluffy carpets or comfortable couches or brand new refrigerators and microwaves. Or a 52'' television either, which Jake had been trying to get the group to buy. Even if they had a television, Duncan had reminded him, how would they get the cable? The only reason they had running water and electricity was because when Gary was alive, he had found a way to tap into one of the household next door's water supply. And power supply. Gary had wound up getting shot after a pretty amazing police chase. He'd "tried" to shoot an officer after there was no chance of escape, but Duncan knew that he'd missed on purpose. Gary hadn't been loyal- and he didn't want to be in the gang anymore. He wanted out. For him, it was the only way out without worrying about his family.

Duncan opened the cabinets, and managed to find some almost-expired bread, crumbly cheese crackers, peanut butter, and two Oreo cookies. He ate one of the cookies himself, to find it stale. Obviously, someone had left the package exposed to the air for too long. He found a paper plate next to the sink, put two pieces of bread on it, as well as the package of crushed cheese crackers. To make up for some calories, he slathered the bread in the peanut butter. He knew that the food would hardly be enough, but it was all he had the resources for.

"Yo, Jake. Are you in the mood for picking up some food later?" Duncan asked, picking up the plate.

Jake groaned, and drummed his fingers on the rickety wooden kitchen table. "Not really. Why do I always have to do the bad jobs?"

Duncan narrowed his eyes. "Get the damn food or I'll report you to Aiden for not listening to me."

"You don't even have a commanding position," Jake sighed, taking a sip of his iced coffee that he'd bought earlier.

"Does it matter?" Duncan asked, raising an eyebrow and glaring at the kid who was brand new to the gang. Jake was the youngest member, at fourteen, but he knew how to fight. And shoot a gun.

Jake looked up at Duncan through his bangs, which were in his eyes and making it impossible to read his expression. "Yeah. I don't like being told what to do. So it does matter."

Duncan put down the plate he'd had, walked over to Jake, grabbed the plastic iced coffee cup, and through it across the room. He grabbed Jake by the collar of his shirt, which caused Jake to squirm around and knock his chair backwards. The chair fell to the dirty linoleum floor with a crack. "Until Ghost comes back, I'm second in command, alright? So that means you listen to me. I know you're still new here, so I'm not going to hurt you. But consider this a warning." Duncan tried to keep his voice straight and even, even though it was difficult not to scream at the ignorant little kid. Ghost had the most respect under Aiden. However, no one had seen or heard from him in weeks. This was normal for the members of their gang, to disappear for weeks, but they almost always came back, refusing to explain where they'd been. He released Jake's dirt-covered red shirt, letting Jake's feet touch the floor again. Then Duncan picked up the plate, and walked out of the kitchen.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Jackie flipped open one of her magazines, and relaxed on her bed with her iPod playing too loud. It was an old issue, but she desperately needed something to do, as her homework was already finished. It wasn't like she could just call up her friends and talk, either. Her father wouldn't like that very much. So she opened up the magazine, and pretended like she hadn't read it a thousand times since November 2006. She frowned though, when she discovered that it was full of holes. Letters were missing from the magazine. Well, at least it was something she'd never seen before. At least it was that something new that she'd been craving. A mystery.

The magazine fell to the floor with one last ruffle of the pages. Jackie had dropped it, no, thrown it onto the floor. She shut off her iPod and threw it onto her pillow, as she stared with eyes the size of dinner plates at the magazine. There was no mystery behind the missing letters. Her brother had used them to write a ransom note.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Courtney's eyes flickered around the dark room. She couldn't see an inch in front of her nose. Her stomach growled, a low noise that spoke for her about how hungry she was. Even though she had no way of knowing what time it was, something in her was telling her that it was at least three in the afternoon. Suddenly, a large rectangle of light invaded the room where the doorway was, and Courtney had to shut her eyes to prevent the painful sting it caused them. A light flicked on in the room, and when her eyes adjusted, she saw the very monster that had brought her here. The very monster that had caused her pain. The very monster that she was pretty sure that she once loved.

She attempted to glare at him, and he got the message, but didn't back off or leave. "Duncan...go away," she said, unable to look him in the eyes. She could look anywhere in the room but at him.

"No way," he said, feeling guilty but not showing it. He knelt down in front of her, holding the plate in his lap. "It isn't much, but hey, it's what we have," he shrugged, holding a piece of bread to her lips since she couldn't do it herself.

She stared at it. Courtney was hungry, but at the same time she wasn't ready to let her pride go. She was unable to stoop to the level of eating from his filthy little street rat hands. "I'm not hungry."

Her stomach chose that moment to betray her secrets, and made a rumble loud enough to be heard across the room. She blushed, and looked down. She was tired and weak, and the last thing she wanted was criticism. "Ignore that," she whispered.

"If you don't eat, you'll die."

Courtney looked up, anger haunting her eyes. "Like you care!" Courtney snorted, "You kidnapped me, brought me here, and left me in a dark, cold, damp room!"

Duncan put the plate on the floor, and looked her in the eyes, "You don't understand-"

"No, Duncan, _you_ don't understand! You used me and tried to take advantage of the feelings that you assumed I had for you," Courtney interrupted him. She wasn't going to put up with his nonsense, not today. "And now you brought me here. Why? What are you going to do to me now? Kill me? Ha-"

"Shut up," Duncan snapped, putting a hand over her mouth, "This wasn't my idea, okay? Aiden did it. He wanted your dad's cash. Got it? If I don't do what he says, I get killed."

"So, then what happens when my dad doesn't pay to get me back?" Courtney asked, her voice suddenly quiet and small, like a frightened child. "He's not going to pay, you know. What happens then Duncan? What happens to me then?"

Duncan opened his mouth, but no words of reassurance came. If...if her father didn't pay the ransom...then...then he would have sacrificed her life for his. For once in her life, she sounded so fragile, as if even the smallest breeze would push her off the edge. It was as if in only one night, she'd been stripped of that radiant self-confidence that he'd always loved about her. He could see her eyes glittering now, as if she were on the verge of breaking into tears. "No...Court...Princess...if...if that happens, I swear I'll figure something out. I promise."

"I don't believe you," Courtney replied bitterly, shutting her eyes.

Duncan scratched the back of his head, and tried to figure out something to do to make her feel better. She had been surprisingly easy to talk to, unlike what he'd expected. Was she really that shaken up after this experience? Would she ever be back to normal? He stretched out his arms in an uncomfortable fashion, and pulled the tied up girl into an awkward hug. "You don't have to believe me. But I'll get you to trust me again if it's the last thing I do."

And considering the situation, it probably would be the last thing he did.


	11. Family Relations

Jackie was sitting down at her desk, depressingly old scratched up pink cell phone in one hand. She'd wanted it terribly when she was ten. Now she wished she had a normal colored cell phone, instead of a bright pink one that was faded in some places where her fingers had worn through the coloring a bit. Duncan wasn't answering his. She knew he had it on, she knew it was with him, but he obviously didn't want to talk to her. Tears filled her eyes, and she tried to blink them away but it was useless. The slipped down her cheek, the rebellious little drops, and fell with an unsatisfying _plip_ as they landed on the desk. She flipped through the magazine, wondering if there was any way that she could find out what exactly he'd used the letters to say. But- no, Duncan wouldn't be as dumb as to use the letters in the order he needed them, would he? She put down her cell phone, defeated. If Duncan was in a difficult situation right now, she didn't want to make it any worse.

She flipped through her abused magazine, taking into account all of the letters and words that were missing. She was right, though, her brother wasn't dumb. The words and letters weren't taken out in order- they were taken out from completely random places. Jackie was definitely no specialist, so she knew that no matter how many hours she could waste trying to piece together things the letter might have said, she'd get nowhere.

There was a knock on her door, and she through the magazine into her desk drawer, and went into study-mode.

"Jackie, Tess is here," her mother's small voice barely permeated the door.

Jackie gave a sigh of relief, threw her chair back, grabbed her bag, and inspected herself to make sure she looked at least presentable. She and Tess had made plans to go for lunch at the local ice cream place. "Coming!" She cried.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Still no word from her father," Aiden said, tiredly. "Have you checked to see what's holding him up?" Aiden idly tapped a pencil against his broken desk. "I'm getting impatient."

"I know..." Duncan murmured, unsure if he was sick of Aiden or sick of himself. "I'll see what's going on."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Duncan felt his entire body go numb, as if someone had suddenly frozen him solid in a short instant. What he was seeing was simply unreal.

Once, when Duncan was little, he'd ran away from home. His father had taken away his gameboy, so Duncan had screamed at him and told him that he hated him. In the following hour, he'd packed up his _Power Rangers _backpack with toys and cookies, and headed where only a five year old boy would run away to. The toy store down the street. That was when his father had still loved him, though, when his father cared about his son's existence. Duncan had sat down in the action figure section, looking at all of the toys he couldn't touch until everyone had left the store. He took out one of his own toys that he'd brought with him, and munched on some Oreos until his stomach ached.

"Hey kid," a tired looking teenager with piercings and acne said tiredly as he swept the floor before closing. "You need to leave now. Where your parents at?"

"I ran away," Duncan said, proudly glaring at the older kid. "I'm staying here," he declared.

The teenager, who's name tag identified him as Gage, rubbed the back of his head and looked around awkwardly. He sighed and mumbled, "Oh geez..." as he contemplated what to make of the stubborn little kid who'd made himself at home. Obviously Gage couldn't leave the kid there. But at the same time, Gage had seen so much of himself in Duncan that he didn't want to kick him out, either. He set the broom up against the wall and sat down next to the young boy, who was covered in dark-colored crumbs. Gage looked at the boy honestly. "So, why'd you run away?"

Duncan explained the story as well as an absent-minded five year old could. Most of it involved the antagonizing of his father as a "bad guy who needed to go to jail for stealing his stuff."

"Oh...I see," Gage pretended to be thoughtful, "Yeah, parents can stink sometimes, huh?"

"Suck. They suck. Stop talking to me like I don't know bad words," Duncan said, pouting.

Gage had frowned, not entirely positive of what to make of that. "Well, your Dad loves you, okay? If I let you borrow my gameboy, will you promise to go home and bring it back to me when you get yours back?"

Duncan's eyes widened, and he broke into a smile. In reality, he missed his warm bed and his mother's big meals and after-dinner desserts. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure," Gage reluctantly handed the boy his gameboy. Few boys his age still had gameboys, but he couldn't really call himself a social butterfly, and he was a bit of a game nerd. "Just give it back to me when you get yours back, alright?"

"Yeah, I will..." Duncan was only half listening as Gage called his father. He was far too busy infatuated with his new toy.

When his father arrived, he hugged Duncan tightly and told him never to scare him like that again. He'd even taken Duncan out for a brownie sundae with nuts and caramel before finally taking him home. After they'd gotten home, Duncan had been punished by being confined to his room except for meals and bathroom breaks. But Duncan hadn't cared. He had a gameboy, after all.

Gage had never gotten his gameboy back.

The point of the story was that Duncan's father had loved him into Duncan had wrecked his trust and given a legitimate cause to his father's hatred. Duncan's father wasn't a bad father. Courtney's father, on the other hand, was. Courtney had been nothing but a perfect daughter, yet her father was sitting in the kitchen, casually drinking coffee, using the ransom note as a coaster.


	12. Tick Tock

Before I start this chapter, I would like to point out my own stupidity in the fact that I wrote "into" instead of "until" in the last chapter last paragraph. And I apologize for doing a lazy editing job. Bad author! Bad!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Duncan watched his peaceful little sister sleep through her dirty, scuffed up window with the chips of paint and permanent marker splotches covering it. As a child, she'd gotten bored, and tried to make her windows "pretty" on several occasions by trying to make the sunlight turn different colors by coloring the panes with sharpie. Duncan remembered his parents telling him to wash her artwork away. The first time she'd done it, it had been cute. The second time she'd done it just to see if she could do it with a different substance- paint. He half suspected it was because they'd been fighting, and she knew that he'd be the one to wash it off again. Jackie had been a pretty smart six year old. Too smart. Now, here she was, older, and unable to be considered a child in his eyes. Was he a creep, for watching his sister sleep? Or was he just watching over her when he could, as he was no longer permitted to see her at any other time? He decided that it didn't really matter. He'd done everything else that was considered "inappropriate," hadn't he?

Somehow, be it little sister intuition or the fact that Duncan had stretched and accidentally hit the window, Jackie stirred and sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily and turning her head to the window. When her eyes processed the figure who shouldn't be there, she jumped twenty feet in the fear that someone was attempting to get in. Strangely, when she figured out it was merely her brother, her look of fear turned into a look of anger, concern, love, hate, and everything in between. She was standing by the wall that was farthest away from the window in question, blanket protectively wrapped around her slight figure. Its purpose was now defeated- she didn't need its familiar protection.

For a fraction of a second Duncan considered gesturing for her to open the window, but instead, he ducked out of its view, and ran. Why did he think he could keep harming his sister's poor mentality? If he kept asking her for shelter, he knew he would wind up regretting it- or worse. Getting her hurt. From then on it was decided- he couldn't keep relying on his baby sister to help him when it could only wind up putting her in the warpath of the dark world of city gangs.

What he didn't know was that when he left, his sister fell to her knees, mind a tornado of impossible and confusing thoughts. What he didn't know was that even though she was irrevocably upset with him, she would still do anything to help him. It was funny how sibling relationships worked that way.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A dark house stood on a picture-perfect lake, some ten miles in the middle of pure wilderness. But on this night, the house couldn't be called dark anymore. It was lit up, oranges and reds and yellows filling up the windows and lighting up the night like a nightlight. The lake showed the same, painful scene, that was terrible and beautiful at the same time. Smoke spilled up into what was once a flawless night sky- the kind from paintings that featured impossibly bright stars. Now the stars were hiding from view behind a thick cloud of black smoke. The roof was burning, and falling into the frame of the house. Soon, the beautiful flames would spread, and lick their way across the trees, sending small animals fleeing to what shelter they could find. More important then the animals, however, was the woman who took shelter in the small house that was now departing this world. It was beyond help, she knew. Although the air around her was hot and sticky from the flame's inescapable heat, the woman stood with wide eyes, feeling numb. She didn't want to see this- but she knew it was happening. By the time help arrived, the house would be gone, a lost cause.

The woman was clutching a simple item- her small, ratty blue purse worn down from years and years and years of use. Now it was all she had left to her name- that and her long silky lavender nightgown, now forever dirty with black ash. She was too shocked to weep- too lost to even accept that everything she had was now lost. At a time she thought she could run away from the rest of the world- from her cheating husband and his stupid addiction to women and alcohol. With him she had selfishly left her most precious possession- and now karma had sought her out to wreak its overdue havoc. Now she was losing everything. Some rational part of the woman realized that she needed to call the fire department so her tragedy wouldn't become the same for many forest creatures. With what phone?

With the cell phone that was somewhere buried underneath all of the other crap she hadn't used in ages in her purse. Her hand trembled so terribly that she nearly dropped the phone into the water, but she managed to keep a determined grip. She turned it on, and recognized the familiar background that featured the beach. When she turned it on, a small window popped up informing her that she had 784 missed calls. Had it really been that long? A lurching feeling in her gut told her that it had. She dialed 911, disregarding the missed calls until the problem at hand was solved.

Click. A mechanical voice began speaking before the first ring. "We're sorry, but this phone is no longer in service. Please call your service provider."

The woman swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat, but it returned, bigger than the first time. She hadn't paid her cell phone bill in at least a year and a half. As for the missed calls, there was no question about who they were from. If nothing else had been able to bring tears to the woman's dark eyes, realizing that someone was trying to reach her again did. "What have I done to myself?" She screamed at no one in particular. Her voice echoed through the trees, and across the lake, and she got no response. Because everyone had given up on her. No one was still listening.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Duncan ran into Aiden later that night. Literally. The halls of the hideout were so pitch black, that Duncan had accidentally bumped into his superior.

"Watch where you're going," Aiden barked, before continuing on his way. "And what's up with her Dad, anyways? The clock is ticking. Tick-tock."

Well, _someone_ was in a bad mood. "He's...worried. He doesn't know what to do, though. I'm not so sure that he's able to pay off the sum we asked so easily," Duncan lied.

"Well, we'll just see what he decides, hm?"


	13. True Weakness

It wasn't her house- not anymore, anyways. She suspected that there was nothing left there that she had any rights to- not even her own family. Nervously, the woman turned her wedding band around her finger over and over again, looking down at it. She couldn't remember what had possessed her to keep the tiny gold shackle that kept her in her marriage. There was no engagement ring- it had been lost, sometime after she'd had too much to drink one night. That night was a blur- but of what she could remember, it had fallen down a drain next to a bus station. It didn't matter anymore. After all- she hated the man that had once held her entire world. She didn't miss him, but she missed all of the feelings she'd had at the beginning of what had been the perfect relationship. And here she stood, a blank look across her face as she stared up at what had been the house of their dreams. The happy newlyweds. Those people seemed so distant now- as they were slowly replaced by a pair of maturing people who realized that they couldn't stand each other in the end. Nothing had changed about the house though- it still stood as beautiful and well-maintained as ever. The only thing that seemed wrong about the picture was that her garden was still blooming as if she'd never left. Someone had been caring for it, even after all this time.

Her husband's- well, they were still technically married- car was not parked in the driveway, but she had a strong feeling that her daughter would be inside, maybe in the library, or the music room. Would her beloved daughter Courtney no longer be able to stand the sight of her? Or would she throw herself on her mother, in tears, wondering why she'd ever left? Would she wonder why her mother hadn't answered her desperate phone calls? It hadn't been a wise decision to leave Courtney here. Leaving her with the monster of a husband that she had hadn't been fair to Courtney at all. Looking back on it, the woman knew that she'd made plenty of immature and cowardly choices by running away. She couldn't run away from her family anymore. She needed to fix things.

The sound of her shoes clicking against the stone walkway brought nervous fluttering inside of the woman's stomach, and as she knocked, she could feel her heart hammering away in her chest. She could hear it. It felt as if the whole world could hear it, even though no one was around. She could run away now- and not have to face the terrible reactions that she was afraid would happen. But she needed to do this. Her feet were kept firmly in place, and she stood straight forward, refusing to even turn around. She stood like this, thinking only about her determination, for ten minutes before she realized that no one had answered the door. Feeling a little put off, she rang the doorbell. Her strength was failing her, and rolling downhill at an alarming pace. Still, no one answered the door.

It was easy to retrieve the spare key underneath one of the stones in the walkway. She still remembered which one it was underneath, and the only surprise was that it was still there. After she'd left, the most logical thought was that her husband would have moved it. Unless there was a possibility that he was worried about her too. But that seemed too unlikely- almost as unlikely as a unicorn getting hit by a car across the street from her at that very second in time. The key still worked, and the elaborate front door with the glass she loved so much creaked open, revealing a very empty house. It was lived in by other people- yet it felt so much more empty than her own house, which only she lived in. Her house- which had burned and burned until the fireman showed up. Only her guest bedroom and her closet had been saved. Her clothes in her closet had been singed- but a few were still wearable. She stood in a pair of jeans covered with black ash, and a T-shirt from Disney World that she had sworn she'd never wear again. On her feet was a pair of black heels- which made for one very awkward looking outfit.

The sound from her heels echoed throughout the house as she walked around it, examining how neat and pristine everything had been kept, as if the house's inhabitants were afraid to really live in it. Something that had not been kept neat and pristine was what had been her bedroom. The bed was a mess, and there was used protection on the floor. A woman had been here- another woman- possibly many. No, there was no question. Whomever her husband had had over last night was not the only woman who had been here since she had left. Was she really that forgettable, though? With a heavy heart, she sat down on the end of the bed. Courtney wasn't home. There was no one home. Not a shower running, or music playing, or footsteps, or anything. And there was no answer, no matter how many times the lonely woman called her daughter's name.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Courtney was on the floor, on her side, shivering. Earlier, she'd been able to take a freezing cold shower, and her hair was still wet. Of course, there hadn't been any soap or shampoo, and she almost wished she'd just stayed dirty. There was no questioning the fact that she was tired, she was miserable, and she wanted to go home. Even her father and his lack of compassion was better then this. She almost missed being ignored. At least at home she'd been able to take care of herself. Here she could only rely on others to take care of her, and it wasn't something she enjoyed or trusted. There was no way of knowing of how long she'd been in that dark room, and no way of knowing how much longer she'd be there. How much longer would they keep her before they realized that her father wasn't going to give them what they were looking for? His money was much more precious to him than herself.

The door opened, and the rectangle of light hurt her eyes as it pierced through the dark. She had to squint. The figure wasn't Duncan, as she'd half hoped. It was Aiden, and all of his disgusting self. He turned on a light, the small one that was littered with dead bug corpses, and strode over to her like he was king of the world. She couldn't stand how he acted like he was better than everyone else. Like he was smarter than everyone else. Like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

But she wasn't going to give in to his superiority act. Because she was Courtney, and she had a personality that matched his perfectly. And she wasn't going to let him win. After all, he was probably just going to wind up killing her anyways. And she wanted to die like the fighter that she was. Not as a broken down captive.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said, sneering. He dropped a plate of small brownish pieces of food in front of her. As soon as the smell hit her nose, she realized with absolute disgust that it was dog food. She looked up at him with a "yeah right" type of look and he smirked, satisfied with himself.

"It was on sale," he laughed. "And you are Duncan's bitch, after all."

"As if I'd eat that. I'd rather starve," Courtney growled, wanting nothing more than to kick him. The only thing that prevented her from doing just that was the fact that he probably had a weapon on him. And the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to live.

Aiden bent down on his knees, and flipped the plate over, sending pieces of dry dog food skittering and rolling across the floor. He pulled Courtney into him, until their noses were just centimeters apart.

"What the heck are you doing?" She protested, trying to wiggle away from him.

He took advantage of her surprise, and kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth. Slowly, he began touching her all over, which made Courtney freeze up and pray that she was dreaming. _This_ was torture. _This_ was what she was really afraid of. It was only a matter of time now before he did something further...before he did something that couldn't be taken back.

"Aiden, what do you think you're doing?" A voice shouted from somewhere else. Within a few seconds, Aiden had been ripped away from Courtney, and Duncan had thrown him out of the room. He had grabbed the key from Aiden at some point, and there was no hope for him getting back in.

Duncan was over at Courtney's side, and even though she tried to be the strong person that she was, she couldn't find the strength to hold back the tears. Duncan held her, and whispered reassuring promises in her ear. She was too tired to not believe him, she was too tired to hate him, and she was too tired to push him away and tell him how much she wished he'd just go rot in a hole for getting her here in the first place.

"I love you, Princess, and I swear, he's not going to touch you. I'll get you out of here- I swear."

"I don't want you to swear. I don't want you to promise- I want you to actually do something," Courtney responded, sounding surprisingly strong.

"Okay," Duncan said quietly, kissing her on the forehead. He knew she was too upset for anything more than that- and he didn't want to push her. But he was certain of one thing. He wasn't going to take any more of Aiden's crap.

"Duncan?" Courtney asked, suddenly. She was beginning to break apart here, he could tell.

"Yeah?" He wasn't used to being a compassionate guy- but that something that she had about her caused him to be someone who he wasn't. No. Courtney brought out his true self. He wasn't a thief. He wasn't evil. He wasn't a criminal. He was pretending to be because he didn't want to look weak. But at that moment in time, he realized that it wasn't weakness at all. Because there was nothing weak about trying to protect someone you cared about. There was only weakness in hiding behind a mask.


	14. The Beginning of the End

Courtney's mother walked around the empty house, hearing no one but her own echo in response to her crying her daughter's name. Courtney wasn't home- that had become obvious. Now, the woman sat, deflated, in a kitchen chair. The table was covered in junk, it seemed that the kitchen was the only place aside from her husband's bedroom that hadn't been taken care of. Unsure of what she was waiting for- was she waiting for someone to come home? Or was she hoping that no one would come home?- she picked through the garbage that littered the table. Empty beer cans, tipped over wine bottles, receipts that reached ludicrously high amounts, cigarettes.

That was when she found the piece of paper that had been used as a coaster. It still had a faded ring where a mug or glass had been placed. She unfolded it to find a ransom note- a ransom note for her daughter. Had her husband even noticed that she was gone? Had he even cared? The woman threw her chair back, and it made a loud crash against one of the cabinets behind her. She grabbed the ransom note off of the table, and tripped over the chair as she made her way to the phone. She picked it up in a shaking hand, and called the police.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Duncan made his way into the room where his Princess was locked up. In all of the fairytales that had ever been read to him when he was young, and of all the fairytales he'd repeated to Jackie when she was young, the guy almost always rescued the princess. So why couldn't he rescue his? Because his family- and him- were at stake. If he did anything to help her escape, even if it was on her own, Aiden would have him pay for it.

In his hand was a paper bag that held some food from the nearest fast food joint. It had been easier to get then he'd thought. All he'd had to do was trade some snot-nosed little kid a gumball that would "give him superpowers" if he could chew it for two months. The kid had given him his month's allowance- ten dollars- in return. Were all kids this stupid nowadays?

"Want some french fries?" Duncan asked, shoving one in his mouth to act like he got them for himself. He didn't want to admit that he'd actually gone out to get her food.

Courtney didn't want to take them. Not from him. But he was decidedly better than Aiden, and anyone else who came down at random intervals during the day. If nothing else, Duncan was trying to make up for what he did. It wasn't working as much as he would have liked, and she was pretty sure she would never forgive him. Duncan had nothing else going for him aside from the fact that he had promised to get her out. Did she believe him? She wasn't sure. In the end, the more she thought about it, the more confused her feelings towards him became. He was a jerk. He was a liar. He was a thief. He was everything she knew that she never wanted to love. But he was everything she loved anyway.

"Not from you I don't," she said, turning her nose up at the french fries that called out to her, begging to eat them. Her stomach agreed, and it made a distinctive noise.

"Stop trying to be difficult and just eat some already. What's the point in saying no? What do you gain from it?" Duncan asked, waving a fistful of french fries in her face (woo! Alliteration win!).

_My dignity. My sense of self._ "Nothing," she admitted, "But I don't like fast food." At some point in her time down in that dark room she had realized that being difficult was the only thing that kept her strong. It was the only thing that kept her from being submissive.

Duncan sighed, scratching his head a bit. He put the bag on the floor next to him, and put each hand on the wall beside her, trapping her in his arms. "Why do you always have to do this?" Duncan asked, before pulling her into a hug.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Jackie was home alone, sitting upside down on the couch with her legs draped over the back. She was eating from a bag of potato chips and watching the news. When the story came on about the missing young woman, Courtney something or other, it didn't take long for Jackie to put the pieces together. That was the girl her brother had kidnapped. And it was only a matter of time before the police figured it out.

How long were you sent to jail for kidnapping, anyways?


	15. Comprehension

How long had she been trapped down in that dark, musty old room? It had been days- well over a week by now. She hadn't really been counting, the days ran into each other. There wasn't a sense of day or night down in the windowless room. Sometimes she slept, but it might not have always been at night. Courtney was starving, and her eyes had dark blackish blue rings encircling them. She hadn't gotten much sleep down in the basement of wherever it was. Her muscles ached to move around again, rather then sit down on the cold cement floor. She groaned a little as she shifted positions, trying to be able to feel something again. A slight tingling ran through the leg she'd been leaning on the wrong way- the feeling you get after a limb as fallen hopelessly asleep. She shut her eyes as she leaned against the wall. Courtney looked different. Her hair looked limp and greasy, the result of getting only one shower of the entire time she'd spent here. She couldn't stand the way it felt against her face. There was nothing that she wouldn't have given for a sufficient bath! She was certain she'd lost weight, and quite a bit of it, too. Her clothing felt baggier on her fading body, and she ate on a meager diet of what might of had had the same nutritional value as birdseed. She could hardly hold her head up anymore, but she forced herself to keep going. Still, one question kept her mind occupied nearly all hours that she was conscious.

How much longer? How much longer before Aiden decided that she wasn't worth keeping alive? How much longer before she was discovered? Would she even be discovered? If she were to scream down here, would she be heard?

The last question was one that she had considered for a while now. At some point, she remembered Aiden telling her not to bother, but had he been honest? Could she trust that?

No, it wasn't worth the risk. If she were to scream, and no one heard her, Aiden would. Was she afraid of Aiden? That was the question. No, not afraid of Aiden. But she was still afraid of what he could do. If she wasn't in the condition she was, or in the position she was, she could have easily taken him. Or, that was what she had been telling herself. It had made her feel at least a little bit better.

How long had she been trapped down in that dark, musty old room? It had been days...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Jackie knocked on the door, and waited. When she didn't get a response, or hear feet thumping against the flooring inside, she lost heart. She glanced down at the little piece of paper, and double-checked the address that her own hand had scribbled out. Maybe the house really was abandoned after all. Or maybe he just wasn't there. She tried knocking again, louder this time. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw movement in the dirty old window to her right. Her eyes darted over, but whatever might have been there was gone. It had been there, though- the ripped curtains were still moving in the wake of a disturbance. After another movement, she heard a raspy, but familiar, voice tell her to go away.

"No, I need to talk to you!" She protested, slamming her body against the front door trying to make her point. There was another pause, and she backed up from the door. There was the distinctive click of someone moving the chain that goes across a door. An eye appeared through the tiniest bit the door had creaked open.

"Well hurry up then, and get inside before anyone sees," Duncan hissed.

Jackie gave a little smile, and slipped inside, head full of things that needed to be discussed. Even though the last thing she wanted to do was smile.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Courtney's mother sat at the cluttered kitchen table, sipping some strong coffee she'd found in the cabinets. Granted- it was one of the only thing's she'd found. She was picking at the remains of a sandwich that she'd purchased from the store down the road. She was tired- the dark rings around her eyes betrayed that she hadn't received a wink of sleep for days. Then- with a sudden slam, the front door informed her that her husband had returned home. Her heart gave a lurch as she remembered all of the times when things had been normal. She could almost smell the steak cooking, as she prepared a dinner for her hard-working husband. He'd come home, they'd eat dinner with their lovely, perfect daughter, and they'd laugh and smile like a normal family. Times weren't normal, not anymore. She'd been a coward, and she'd ran away from any hope of having a normal family ever again.

He strolled into the kitchen, looking wasted and disheveled. The look of raw shock mixed with confusion and horror grew and twisted upon his face when he saw her. His eyes flitted around, as if he desperately wanted to escape, or disappear. There was nowhere to run away to. "M-Miranda..." he swallowed, running a hand through his greasy hair and straightening his striped satin tie. It looked like he'd been in a rush to get dressed.

"Lucas," she responded coldly, crossing her arms and standing up slowly. If anything had ever gotten through to this man, it was that something was extremely wrong at that moment. For one of the first times in his life, his eyes hinted at recognition. "Why didn't you do something about our daughter sooner?" Her voice was on edge, and she struggled with her motherly instinct not to cry. She didn't want to cry. If she did, it wouldn't be in front of this man, this monster, this scum. He was something that you would scrape off your shoe. Tears were smudging her vision, blotting him out.

Lucas had no response. What could he have possibly said?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"All right, Jackie. What do you want?" Duncan whispered, handing her a plastic cup of soda from the kitchen. "Hurry it up, because anyone could be coming back any second." It sounded crueler then he meant it to. He was concerned, and his eyes kept drifting over to the window, alert for any approaching figures. If anyone caught him with Jackie- some shit would go down.

Jackie took a drink from the plastic cup and put it down on the floor in front of her. She was sitting cross-legged on the dirty kitchen tile, a questionable look in her eyes. Something about her seemed undoubtedly different today. There was a long pause before she said anything. "You kidnapped a girl...didn't you?" She finally choked out. Her voice was dry, as if she was struggling to find the proper words. "People know, Duncan...it was on the news," her voice continued. She sounded more urgent now, and she was rushing to speak. "People know- the police know. You'll get caught!"

Duncan opened his mouth to respond, but he didn't know how to. He shut his eyes for a long time- minutes. He could hear Jackie's panicked, shallow breaths. Then there was an unmistakeable stifled whimper as she held back a sob. Would it be better if she hated him? Would it be easier?

"Get out of here," he said suddenly, eyes snapping open. He was trying to muster up authority in his voice, and sound like he meant it. It would have been easier if he'd been talking to anyone else. "Go!" he raised his voice a bit.

When she didn't move, he yanked her up by the arm and forced her to the door. "If you ever come back...I'll kill you. I swear it," Duncan said, gritting his teeth and forcing her out the door. When she was gone, he slid down the door, knowing he hadn't meant it.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Courtney awoke from her sleep, and looked up to see Duncan hovering over her. A light bulb had lit the room, and the weak, dimming light seemed to outline him with a ring of gold. She truly wasn't sure if she had the energy to be angry with him anymore. Never, no matter how long she spent in that moldy basement, would she let him know that she was breaking. He knelt down to her, and helped her into a sitting position. She was fully awake now.

"How are you holding up?" Duncan asked, nonchalantly. It was hard for him to hold back his concern.

"Perfectly fine," she said quickly, trying as hard as she could to make it convincing.

He sat in front of her, arms pinning her against the wall, "How can you say that?" He asked, nearly sounding angry with her, "How can you sit there and honestly say that?" Was he upset with her, or was he upset with himself?

Courtney didn't reply, and pretended to be overcome with the interest of a tiny bug that was crawling across the far wall.

"Has Aiden been down? Has he hurt you?"

Courtney ignored the questions entirely. "So. How long until you guys decide my father isn't going to rescue me? How long until you kill me?"

"I told you," Duncan began, hurt flooding his eyes, "I won't let them kill you." He was nowhere near crying, though.

Duncan was being soft. It was unusual, and he had even startled himself by his kindness towards her. He was tired, though. Tired of being bad, tired of pretending not to care. He would never be nice all of the time, but tonight, he had decided he could try. She deserved a bit of sunshine down here. And he wanted more then anything for her to trust him again. How long he could uphold this was anyone's guess.

"The police know. They're looking for you," Duncan said suddenly, backing away from her. "Your mother, I think."

Courtney's eyes widened with the realization that her mother was alive. Her mother was back! At the same time, she felt a pit form in her stomach. If the police knew, they might find her...but where would that put Duncan? She was still undoubtedly upset with the man in front of her, but the natural pull she felt towards him...The truth was, she was irrevocably in love with him. A fact that she refused to accept, especially after what he'd done. Still, that part of her, the part that loved him, knew that she'd be devastated if he went to jail. And whether it was just the current, shattered state she was in, or whether she really knew what she was saying, she told him to run.

"I'd love to," Duncan said with a small smile. "But, if I run, I'd be putting too many people in danger."

"You sure thought of that when you kidnapped me," Courtney said, a tiny flicker of unhappiness in her eyes.

"If I didn't...I'd die...and...they'd hurt my family," Duncan responded, "They'd hurt my baby sister."

He suddenly felt a short shock of anger sweep through him as he recalled the day's earlier events.

Courtney looked a little taken aback, but after a long pause, she gave him her first genuine smile since she'd been locked down there. "I guess you do have a heart, after all. And here I was thinking you'd done it for yourself."

"If I'd done it for myself, I'd have let you go and let them kill me."

"I still don't forgive you," Courtney said pointedly. Duncan looked down, in a knowing sort of way. That had been obvious.

"I know," Duncan murmured, "I wouldn't expect you to." He had been harboring the tiniest hope the she would forgive him, however.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Heehee. I know it was a little fluffy. :) Sorry about that. I'm also sorry about the extremely long wait for this chapter! I've been very busy and have had no inspiration to write whatsoever. Anyways, from here on out I'll have a lot more DxC ness, because I think the story is lacking.


	16. A Small Luxury

It seemed like there was nothing left to say anymore. Courtney wasted the days away- there was no more sense of time. The days meshed in with the nights. Everything was repetitive in her mind. The same thoughts played on in her head, like a broken record. She slept when she was tired, she ate when there was food, she dreaded when Aiden or Duncan would come down and look at her. She wished they wouldn't look at her in this state. She was weak, broken, and falling apart. A different person then she used to be. All she could do was sit and stare at the walls. Counting the cracks in the ceiling or the raindrops that leaked through when the weather was bad had become her only form of entertainment. If you could even pass it as entertainment.

"I've never felt so pitiful," She mused to herself one day, in a half awake state. "Someone is looking for me now."

It begged the question if she truly wanted to be found. If she was found, Duncan would be in danger. As much as she hated him, and as much as she wished she'd never met him, there was also that something inside of him that drew her in like a moth to a light. If she got too close, she would undoubtedly get hurt. That was how things always seemed to work with people in her life.

Would anyone pay her ransom, or would she just be found, rescued, and finally have everything just be over? The second option sounded nicer- like a movie, she thought. Like a movie with a happy ending.

The door came open at that moment, and she held her breath, and let her eyes dart up to the doorway. For a moment she thought that it was Aiden, coming to finally end her. And for a brief moment after that, she thought it was what she wanted. It wasn't Aiden, though. It was Duncan, and she sighed with relief. She had mixed feelings about her partial lover, but anything was better than Aiden.

"Morning, Princess," Duncan murmured, closing the door behind him. He sat down beside her and lit a cigarette.

She gave a little cough, never being a fan of smokers. It was a nasty, dirty habit. She was about to mention it to him- give him the whole 'don't smoke' lecture. At the last moment, she changed her mind." So. It's morning, then," she paused as he gave a small grunt that she understood to mean 'yes.'

"I don't even know what time it is anymore," she cracked a small smile, and pulled her knees to her chest.

Duncan stamped out the cigarette on the concrete floor, reading her mind effortlessly. By now he knew the look that people got in their eyes when they disapproved of the smoke. If he'd been the same person he was before, he wouldn't have cared what she thought. Somehow, though, he was growing up. Experiencing changes within himself that made him more considerate, and more...mature. Although, he didn't consciously realize it.

A little awkwardly, he put one of his arms around her shoulders and pushed himself a little closer to her. She made no effort to move away, and he realized what had happened to her. He'd seen it as the time she'd been here dragged on, but denial often eases the pain. The Courtney that he had loved wasn't here anymore. He'd taken her away, suppressed her and beaten her down until she became tired and hopeless. It was as if she'd died, or gone away some place- leaving only a ghost behind in her skin. The sparkle in her eyes was gone- and her fighting spirit had been drowned away.

And he had caused this.

It wasn't Aiden's fault, not really. It was his.

He would kill Aiden.

"I'm sorry," he stuttered awkwardly, still no good with apologies. "I'm going to kill him."

"It wouldn't fix anything," Courtney responded, emotionless. She didn't- couldn't- even look at him when she spoke.

"This isn't my fault!" Duncan said, a little flustered. Although in his heart he knew it was. He would never admit that to her though.

Courtney pulled away from him, "If you killed him. If you hurt him. It wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't change the fact that this still happened! If I ever get out of here...things can't just go back and be normal again!" Courtney replied with such force that he almost thought everything else had been a dream, and that she was really perfectly okay. He saw a flicker of a flame in her spirit- a dim candle. It was gone though- as soon as it had appeared. Just a flash. He also knew that she was right. As always.

"I know that!" Duncan said, a little angry. But his anger wasn't at her- it was never at her. "I'm sorry I did what I did. It was wrong and stupid and, dammit! Princess. Courtney. I wish I'd never done this to you. I was stupid and I know you're suffering and I wish I could change that. You're so important to me! I...I...I'm no good at this sort of thing." He stood up and turned away from her. "You hate me and that's fine. You should hate me. I'm a stupid moron with no heart and I'm no good with girls."

The room grew heavy with silence and frustration. The atmosphere begged for someone to break the tension. An understanding- a compromise- anything.

"Sit." Courtney ordered him, her distinctive old self showing through a bit.

She was in no place to be ordering him around, and both of them knew it. But Duncan humored her request, mostly because even though she looked so fragile, he didn't dare defy her. Upsetting her more would be counterproductive. As he sat down, anyone could see his surprise when Courtney let herself fall into him and started crying.

She was sorry for herself. Lonely, exhausted, bored. But out of those her loneliness was the worst offender. Though she hated depending on anyone else (after her mother had left, she'd become independent), the human contact was something she needed. Nothing felt better as she felt his strong arms embraced her, even though awkwardly. She could feel some of her hot, sticky tears sliding down her face. He was pretending not to notice them, but he did. She appreciated that.

Even after the same exact scenario had played between them at least four or five times down here, and even after all of the fighting, Courtney realized that she missed Duncan. She missed everything that had happened on the island, and everything that could have been between them. Suddenly, Duncan squirmed out of her embrace, and removed the binding that held her ankles together. He easily removed the binding from her hands as well, tossing it to the side.

Courtney was so surprised that she could barely speak. "What...what are you doing?" She choked out, wide eyes staring up at him, begging answers.

He helped her up. She hadn't walked in days, and the sensation was so strange that she nearly collapsed. Duncan led her up the stairs, through the main part of the house, and through the back door into the fresh air. The breeze was amazing. Courtney felt a rush of fresh air into her lungs, and she breathed it in gratefully. Duncan hadn't answered her question, though. Then again, she wasn't sure that it even mattered.

"Aiden isn't here, and the other guys went off to get some lunch. I thought I'd bring you outside..." Duncan murmured, rubbing the back of his head.

Courtney admitted, her heart dropped when he didn't say he was letting her go. Somewhere she'd known that, or expected it, at least. She wiped her face off with her too-big sleeve. She was beginning to look a little skeletal, and standing up, she finally realized just how big her clothes actually were now. Duncan awkwardly put an arm around her waist, pulling her into him. She was too weak to outrun him, and he could catch her anyways, but he wasn't taking his chances. And he wanted to hold her. She let him- secretly still not minding the human contact. She couldn't help but think how perfect this would have been if she wasn't a prisoner here. Duncan slightly turned her around, so she faced him.

He lifted her chin with a nervous hand, and he kissed her. She didn't reject him, and she kissed back. He bit at the bottom of her lip, asking for an entrance, which she gave after teasing him a bit. She'd completely forgotten everything else, and she buried her shaking hands in his hair, now grown out of its original green mohawk. He held her tightly against him, almost feeling as though he was protecting her. The feelings were a bit ironic. Courtney's brain was in overdrive, just happy to have him with her. It baffled her as to why she felt so strongly about the same man she also hated. The kiss itself was surprisingly nice though- not too overpowering. Everything felt right, and she was even able to forget that soon she'd have to go back into the basement, hidden from the world. Seeing the sky was a nice luxury though.

"Duncan!" A deep voice barked from behind them. Duncan pulled away from Courtney sharply, staring at the new arrival. 'Screwed' was just taken to a whole new level.

And everything shattered.

Everything was over.

Aiden was back.


	17. Final Fights Ending Chapter!

Duncan whirled around and stepped in front of Courtney in one fluid motion. He knew that this was trouble, and that everything that he'd worked so hard to protect had been thrown into sudden turmoil. His family, Courtney, and his own life hung from a thread, as they had for so long. Now that thread was beginning to fray and unravel, dropping everything downwards to oblivion in exponential intervals. His entire body was tense. He had made a big mistake, and this mistake could potentially cause irrevocable damage.

"You'd better have a damn good explanation for this, Duncan," Aiden growled, reaching for his gun.

Duncan didn't know what to say, "I don't."

"My patience is done," Aiden spat, eyes flaring with disgust. He raised his pistol threateningly. "Do you understand what that means?" He advanced towards the confused pair and Duncan shoved Courtney backwards in response.

"Get away from her," Duncan said threateningly. He did not plan on letting this scum do anything else to his princess.

"Big mistake, Duncan. You know what happens to traitors," Aiden roared, pointing the gun so it had a straight shot at Duncan's head.

"Don't make empty threats," Duncan responded with a smirk. "The gun isn't loaded."

Aiden blanched. "W-what do you mean?" He lowered the gun in surprise.

"I stole the bullets while you were asleep. You might think you're all powerful, but I was one step ahead of you this entire time," Duncan smirked.

Aiden was trying to look strong, as if he expected it, but the shock was clear as day on his face. "You'll pay for this..." he growled, "I'm done keeping her. It isn't worth it."

Aiden tucked away the useless gun in his coat, and pulled out a knife. He immediately went after defenseless Courtney, and Duncan grabbed Aiden by the arm and punched him in the face. Aiden reciprocated the blow with a sudden stab to Duncan's shoulder. Duncan's face contorted into pain as Aiden ripped the knife out of the soft flesh and watched the blood blossom through Duncan's shirt sleeve. Courtney looked away, horrified and feeling sick to her stomach at the sight.

Duncan went after Aiden again, another blow making contact with Aiden's nose and causing blood to trickle downwards from his nostril. The contact had made a stomach-wrenching cracking nose that suggested a broken nose. A few harsh words were exchanged between the young men, before Aiden turned furiously on Duncan and tried to get another stab at him.

"Courtney, run. Now!" Duncan called to her desperately.

Her feet wouldn't move though. They were glued in place, hopelessly trapped in one place. "I'm not going to just leave you." Her voice trembled like an autumn leaf about to fall from its branch. She was decided, though. If he would fight for her, she would fight for him. Regardless of his mistakes.

"Don't pick now to be bold," he yelled at her as Aiden unsuccessfully made another stab towards his chest. "Run, while you still can."

"Lookie here," Aiden taunted, taking a step backwards and smirking. "Duncan, the rock. Once my most trusted friend. Going soft, hm?"

This enraged Duncan, who jumped at him, ripping out his own knife from his pocket. "I'm not soft!" He managed to graze Aiden across the cheek, a thin red line appearing. Aiden took a moment to wipe off the scratch, a little surprised Duncan had landed such a wound so easily. Aiden grabbed Duncan by the arms with ease, and stretched them behind his back, holding him in place. Duncan wriggled around violently, refusing to be trapped.

Courtney stood frozen in her spot, unsure of how to react to the fight. She would not run away. Even if she wanted to, she had such limited strength.

Then, the unmistakable sound of sirens drifted on the wind, in the distance. There was no way of telling exactly where they were headed, but the noise grew progressively louder, and Courtney begged that they had discovered where she was.

Aiden and Duncan both ceased the fight to listen. Both exchanged glances. Even though they had just been fighting, both of them knew that they were guilty.

Then Aiden turned on Duncan in the moment of peace, and jammed the knife into Duncan's lower side before running off. Duncan doubled over to the ground, and Courtney ran over to him in tears. She embraced him, tears running down her cheeks and mixing with the developing blood stains on her shirt. His blood was leaking through her clothing, but she didn't care. He was alive, for now.

"You need to see a doctor," she said weakly, looking into his eyes. They'd grown a bit more dull, the brilliant shine scraped away by the pain he was experiencing.

"Jail," was the only word he could squeeze out. And Courtney could see the fear in his eyes. They could both hear the sirens growing nearer. Courtney could only hold him and keep him conscious while they heard the officers invade the house.

Courtney kissed Duncan. Her captor- but also her savior. She kissed him and he kissed back, although suffering from his blood loss. They had each other, and she wouldn't let him die now.

That was how the police found them- and as they pulled the two apart, Courtney felt an undeniable emptiness fill her heart, as she knew that soon, there would be questions to answer. And Duncan would probably go to jail. Everything else happened in slow motion that night. From the police car ride, to the reunion of her with her mother. She wasn't happy with her mother- and when her mother hugged her, she didn't want to return the warm gesture. Everyone commented on her weight- how skinny she'd gotten. But her family showered her with kisses, the affection they never normally gave. Was it just because they were expected to now?

She answered what she could, and was slightly disheartened when she heard that Aiden hadn't been caught. She argued for Duncan, and claimed he'd saved her life. But in the eyes of the police system, he was still guilty anyways. Miracles don't always happen. But she would wait. She would wait forever if she had to.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

THE END.

I know it was a little anticlimactic, but I didn't really know where else to go with it to be honest without sounding hopelessly repetitive. I might write a quick little epilogue or something later. ._.'

Sorry for the disappointment. _


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